Riches of Clare: Rosary
and Breviary

Clare Champion,
Friday, August 23, 2002

The Riches of Clare exhibition
at the Clare Museum charts the county's history over 6,000 years using authentic
artifacts. In the first in a new series of articles examining the artifacts,
Daniel McCarthy recounts the background to the rosary and breviary .

Rosary beads and a Roman
Catholic breviary, pictured below, both serve as a reminder of the strong
faith held by generations of Clare people.

Although the Rosary is
widely associated with Catholicism, the use of beads to count prayers would
also be familiar to Moslems and Hindus. It is thought that Early Christian
Monks began using loose pebbles to count prayers they were reciting in the
third century AD, and primitive forms of such beads have been found by archaeologists
in tombs of early Christians in the Middle East.

However, according to
the Encyclopedia Brittanica, the modern Rosary's origin is credited to St
Dominic and the Dominican order he founded in the thirteenth century. It grew
in popularity in Europe and in 1520 Pope Leo X gave the Rosary official approval.

There is folklore associated
with a field in Miltown Malbay, which states that three hundred years ago
during the penal laws, a Friar, perhaps a Dominican, left his Rosary behind
in a house in the area while fleeing from English soldiers. According to the
tale, the woman of the house on seeing the rosary, rushed out and buried them
before the soldiers reached her home.

Centuries later, the rosary
beads, in the picture, were recovered from the land of Miltown Malbay farmer
Charlie Egan during spring ploughing in the 1970's. The beads are made of
blackish stone, perhaps of local origin, making the set remarkably heavy.
The rosary also carries a crude plain cross, which, according to Adrian Kennedy,
former head of conservation at the National Museum of Ireland, appears to
have been unfinished by the craftsman who made it.

Are these the beads buried
by the woman all those years ago? The people of the Miltown Malbay area certainly
think so.

Click
image to view details in the Riches of Clare Exhibition

The Roman Catholic breviary
dates back to 1625. It was presented to Bishop Michael Fogarty of Killaloe,
by his friend W T Cosgrave, the then former leader of the Irish Free State
in 1937. Dr Fogarty, who had been a fervent supporter of Cosgrave and the
pro-Treat side in the Civil War, in turn presented the book to the Sisters
of Mercy in Ennis.

The beautiful intricacy
of this breviary is a testament to the craftsmanship of earlier times. The
book has full calf skin binding sewn into flexible linen cards that are laced
into beech binding boards. It is perhaps a miracle that the religious book
has survived the religious and political turmoil that has characterised the
history of Ireland over most of the last 400 years.

Used by priests, breviaries
contain the regulations for the celebration of the Mass. They are divided
into four sections according to the seasons of the year. It contains a Psalter
(collection of psalms), the proper of the season, the proper of the saints,
and the common and special offices.

Both the Rosary and the
Breviary are presently on display at Clare Museum.